AdrenalinDragon Reviews

Dune: Part Two (2024)

Overrated: Part Two

[5/10 · 2 March 2024]

I didn't care for Dune: Part One all that much and found it very boring. Dune: Part Two is slightly better than Part One, but not by much. Didn't really think it's all that visually impressive, although the sequences that were in black and white stood out a bit more. The biggest problem I have with it honestly is I just don't care about the characters or the outcome of the story. Even the world of Dune isn't that exciting to me.

Half of the movie was just groups of people walking through a desert, and it got tedious and dull. Everything else was kind of meh at best or you've already seen it done in other franchises already. Some of the music and performances were fine, but yeah the way this ends means they'll probably be a third one. I've been super disappointed with the hype for this franchise.

5/10.

Robot Dreams (2023)

Two friends on ups and downs of rollercoasters

[8/10 · 8 February 2024]

Really sweet, yet touching story of a dog and his robot friend starting off as best buddies then certain circumstances makes them take their own journeys and lessons in life. Intentionally mundane and meandering in many places just like life itself, the movie follows these two characters through their ups and downs in different ways. Sometimes the outcome you wanted just doesn't play out and like reality you accept the path you're now on. There is no dialogue at all in this, just music and sounds, and the movie does an excellent job at showing exactly what is going on and how the characters are feeling. Nice art style too. A pleasant watch.

The Zone of Interest (2023)

The Zone of Obvious

[5/10 · 20 January 2024]

I don't get the praise for this film. It was pretty boring, and yeah I know you're seeing the side of the Nazi's family perspective with the horrors of the Holocaust happening in the background off-screen, but I just didn't feel it warranted a feature length running time and it didn't feel like there was much of a plot going. Perhaps that's the point, but it didn't hold my interest and got quite tedious and obvious. Nothing wrong on a technical or performance level. In fact, easily the best things going for it, as well as the sound. However, it just didn't feel worth the time watching knowing the obvious and not really being heavily invested in any character.

5/10.

Night Swim (2024)

Shallow, lame and boring

[3/10 · 6 January 2024]

A potentially decent concept of a haunted swimming pool that was just completely wasted. Quite a slog to sit through despite only being 90-ish minutes long. Nothing much all that interesting happens, the characters are very bland and any scares/threats that happen you just end up shrugging it off as whatever.

Characters make dumb decisions and the explanations for stuff is weak and you've heard it all like a million times before. Definitely will be forgetting about this movie by next week. Acting was average at best and there were some ok shots of the water here and there, but mostly nothing special about how it's filmed. Such a disappointment as I was hoping it wasn't bad.

3/10.

Strays (2023)

Underrated Vulgar Comedy with Dogs

[8/10 · 20 August 2023]

I feel Strays has a lot of things going for it more than what the general consensus seems to think of it. It's not just any vulgar raunchy Comedy with dogs, there's more effort put into it than that. It's pretty funny with a lot of the jokes landing, there's surprisingly quite a bit of heart and emotion to it, and it's paced and structured really well for telling a simple yet effective story. Might be my pick for funniest movie of 2023, but sure it won't be for everyone. Really solid voice performances and a pretty underrated movie. Zips by very quickly and is very entertaining to watch in my opinion.

7.5/10.

Evil Dead Rise (2023)

Fresh new family blood added to life

[8/10 · 22 April 2023]

Evil Dead is a franchise that in my opinion has been consistently great, and Evil Dead Rise continues the trend. A very solid sequel. Takes a while to get going but the buildup needs to be there for the Demonic Horror elements to fully kick in. Sure the movie has some familiar beats to the franchise, but the apartment setup and the family dynamics make things a bit more interesting, as well as the deaths and references.

It's nicely shot and despite some dumb character moments here and there, the film still excels enough to keep you engaged the entire time with its breakneck pacing in the second half. Really great special effects and good performances. This film proves Evil Dead can continue to work without Bruce Campbell.

8/10.

Renfield (2023)

Half-Bloody off a mess of a movie

[5/10 · 14 April 2023]

Unfortunately this fell a bit flat for me. Renfield tries to be multiple things at the same time, and it doesn't really gel too well altogether. The humour mostly misses and the writing/action sequences are kinda sloppy in execution. Nicolas Cage needed to be in it more, but sadly he's only in maybe a quarter of the movie at most.

Awkwafina is fairly annoying in it and everything outside of Cage's Dracula is far less interesting. Nicholas Hoult's Reinfeld is just a bit meh for most of it, and the CGI blood was kinda poor. Overall very disappointed by the end and it should have been way better if you ask me.

5/10.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Critics are being too harsh for what it is

[7/10 · 5 April 2023]

I think for what this movie sets out to do, Super Mario Bros. Movie pretty much ticks the boxes of an entertaining, reference fan-service heavy movie. A lot of the jokes are basic sure, but it's just impressive that there is some competency to a Video Game Movie. Sometimes simple and straightforward is the best way to go. Not high art or anything, but it ticks off almost everything for what Mario should be at least. Voice acting wasn't as bad as I thought, and Jack Black was the highlight as expected. Yeah, not gonna win any big awards but judge it for what it is, and yeah by Video Game Movie standards it's one of the best ones easily if you ask me.

6.5/10.

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

More Avatar, More Water, More Average

[6/10 · 16 December 2022]

James Cameron gives James Bond's Thunderball competition on how many underwater sequences he can fit in a feature length three hour film. As for the movie, it's alright I guess. Retreads quite a bit from the first film and feels more like style over substance in places with pretty shots and CGI. I didn't get the emotional impact from this one as much as the original.

Jake and Neytiri get way less screentime as it focuses on the children and secondary characters. It's more blue people and more action. Not sure if it justifies the runtime. Think it could have easily cut out 30 minutes without any problems. The score is decent, although James Horner's absence is noticed. If you wanted more Avatar, this delivers I guess but if you were expecting anything new to the story you'll be a little underwhelmed I think.

6/10.

Strange World (2022)

Strangely Mediocre World

[5/10 · 27 November 2022]

Ehhh pretty generic and meh. Didn't feel much for the characters emotionally and the movie wasn't that funny. The Strange World stuff wasn't really anything I hadn't already seen before. Where the plot goes at the end thinks it's more clever than it actually is. I was underwhelmed by the entire execution.

At the end of the day, this is very weak by Modern Disney standards. It's an easy watch and the animation is decent in places, as well as the music, but overall I'm not going to remember much from it that I had already seen these premises/concepts done in movies before. A Mediocre World is what it is.

5/10.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Just not the same without Chadwick

[5/10 · 11 November 2022]

Man I miss Chadwick Boseman. It just felt so hollow and empty without him. I was so bored and uninterested the whole time. Sad, but it is what it is and I think this is my least favourite MCU movie. I really didn't care for the characters or what was going on at all. At times I felt like I was watching a weaker Aquaman/Avatar in places. I guess the music is okay and there are some okay shots here and there, but in the end it was way too long for what it was and even Chadwick's farewell seemed a bit rushed if you ask me. I'd rather watch Black Widow again or even Eternals which is saying something.

4/10.

Black Adam (2022)

Surprised this is getting decent reviews

[4/10 · 28 October 2022]

Thought Bland Adam was another misfire for the DCEU Universe. Basically a poor combination of Justice League, Eternals and Shazam! This is a movie I probably won't remember at all in the near future. Too much slo-mo and lack of fun. Pierce Brosnan was probably the highlight as he gives the film a little bit of a spark to the cast of characters.

Otherwise very dull characters which you care little about, wonky special effects in places and humour which doesn't work most of the time. Dwayne Johnson has little charisma in this film and I simply didn't care what happened. This was overall kinda bad honestly.

3.5/10.

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

The In Bruges spiritual successor we needed

[9/10 · 21 October 2022]

Welcome back Martin McDonagh. Despite being a bit hit and miss lately with Seven Psychopaths and Three Billboards despite still being great, The Banshees of Inisherin is up there with In Bruges as a return to top form for the director. An excellent Drama about friendships with well-written characters and plenty of black humour. Nicely shot in Ireland, great performances and lovely music makes this easily one of the best films of 2022. Definitely Oscars worthy for sure. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are great together on screen, as well as the supporting roles of Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon. A must watch and very well crafted film.

8.5/10.

Halloween Ends (2022)

My favourite of the new Halloween movies

[7/10 · 14 October 2022]

Surprised at how much I enjoyed this entry, considering many people are saying it's the worst one. I actually quite liked this movie. I was kind of meh on the first Halloween and Halloween Kills just felt to me like filler with kills after kills lacking anything of interest. This seemed more focused on characters and consequences rather than just kill counts.

This movie is very different from the previous two. It doesn't focus on loads of kills and I could see that being divisive with people being disappointed on the lack of Michael Myers and deaths. This time it focuses on a new character that ends up being tied to everything with how people end up turning evil on how they are treated. There's also a good conclusion to the Michael Myers stuff, albeit rushed but decent.

6.5/10.

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Less godly to Ragnarok but still great

[8/10 · 7 July 2022]

Much messier in execution compared to Thor: Ragnarok, but the humour and style of Taika Watiti keeps it going strong and Russell Crowe was a highlight. Also good uses of music too.

7.5/10.

Man vs. Bee (2022)

Mr. Bee's mediocre comeback

[5/10 · 26 June 2022]

It wasn't very good. Mediocre Comedy that got a bit too tedious and repetitive for what it was. Might have worked better as a 20 minute short. Biggest problem though it just wasn't all that funny and simply missed Mr. Bean's charm. The CGI was ropey in places too.

6/10.

What Is a Woman? (2022)

It's worth checking out

[6/10 · 9 June 2022]

Feels pretty one sided with specific agendas and biases. However, it's well produced and does offer some interesting opinions and ideas on what defines a person on who they are and tackles things people would avoid talking about in public. Worth a watch regardless of politics.

6/10.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Top sequel that outguns the original

[8/10 · 27 May 2022]

Much much better than I was actually expecting. I find the original to be a very mixed bag, but this was a really great sequel. I was surprised at how much of an emotional punch this one had with Tom Cruise's character revisiting old characters and memories of his early Top Gun years, especially with Iceman. The flight action sequences are incredible and so well done I was hooked the entire time and on the edge of my seat. There's a few nods to the original too and the music still rocks. Honestly this might be the biggest surprise of 2022 for me so far.

8/10.

Ricky Gervais: SuperNature (2022 TV Special)

Return comeback for Gervais

[7/10 · 24 May 2022]

Welcome back Ricky! Just what I needed a good laugh and for you to not give a crap about who you offend to entertain. Thanks for calling out all the stupidity and hypocrisy. Just what we need in today's crazy world of what we live in.

7/10.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

More than meets the universes

[9/10 · 10 May 2022]

Bit overlong, but trippy weird fun. Leaves a big impression on you in some way or another. Solid performances and lots of interesting concepts and bizarre senses of humour. Nice emotional story giving multiverses a theme of purpose.

8.5/10.

One Cut of the Dead Spin-Off: In Hollywood (2019 TV Movie)

Lightning in a cashgrab bottle

[5/10 · 1 May 2022]

The appeal is basically gone now. This doesn't really bring anything new to the table. If you've seen the first one, this is a weaker rehash. Shorter, less effective and not as interesting.

5/10.

The Bad Guys (2022)

Best Furry movie of 2022!

[7/10 · 5 April 2022]

Step aside Turning Red! This is the best Furry movie of 2022! Stylish animation and a good Ocean's Eleven-esque/heist family friendly tone to it. Got a good set of characters, action, quirkiness, humour, and heart. Perhaps the film is a little predictable, but it stays engaging so I don't think it's too much of a problem. Seemed to be well liked by both kids and adults. Better than some of Pixar's latest stuff honestly.

6.5/10.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)

Best Video Game Movie easily!

[7/10 · 1 April 2022]

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is basically everything the first Sonic movie should have been. While the first film wasn't bad per se and perfectly watchable, it was very basic and clearly limited in scope and budget. Still alright overall.

Thankfully, with a sequel greenlit it feels like this time the writers and director could do much more. The CGI game characters get more of the spotlight than the Human characters, the jokes land better and there's just much more going on here that fans will recognise from the games. With Tails and Knuckles added into the roster, it adds more character dynamic and banter that fleshes them out more in the story.

Robotnik also gets to shine more too thanks to Jim Carrey's performance and having more gadgets and locations to juggle with. The weakest parts of the movie are when Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Robotnik aren't on screen, but the scenes are still perfectly watchable and better than almost everything in the first film. There's more locations too and gimmicks to play around with in the movie as well.

Without spoilers, fans will be most happy with Sonic 2 and even people who aren't a fan of Sonic will still get a kick out of it. Although this ain't saying much, I can confidently say this is the best Video Game Movie I've seen easily. It really felt like they put their soul and effort into it and kids will have a blast with this. Don't forget to stay to the end for a surprise. There will definitely be a third film coming.

7.5/10.

Morbius (2022)

Venom doesn't seem too bad now

[3/10 · 31 March 2022]

No surprises this was awful. Jared Leto is terrible and Matt Smith was annoying. CGI was laughingly bad and the slow-mo action and wonky editing made things borderline unwatchable. Writing was all over the place too with some terrible dialogue. There's little fun and it took itself way too seriously. Honestly, this made Venom seem alright in comparison.

2/10.

The Oscars (2022 TV Special)

Let's be honest here

[5/10 · 28 March 2022]

The Oscars suck nowadays. There's not much excitement or thrill on who is going to win or be nominated anymore. Honestly, when Will Smith hitting Chris Rock is considered the highlight of this year's ceremony, it just goes to show how mediocre and superficial it really is. You're better off just watching the highlights rather than sitting through the entire thing.

5/10.